Byron Miller '76

Waterloo, Iowa
Major: Engineering (with credits from the University of Illinois)
Post-secondary education: Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; master’s degree in computer science, New York University; doctorate in agricultural engineering, University of California-Davis

Byron Miller’s Study-Service Term in Costa Rica in the early ’70s opened his eyes to economic disparities between the rich and the poor. He keeps this awareness with him working with agricultural machinery as a John Deere engineer.

“I think food is one of our basic necessities, and I’m glad I’m involved in this industry – there are more mouths to feed every year,” Miller said.

In 1976, Miller combined credits from GC and the University of Illinois for an engineering degree, later earning a master’s degree from MIT before working for Bell Labs. After a few years, however, he chose to return to the industry with which he was familiar, having grown up on a farm in Illinois. He went on to earn a degree in agricultural engineering.

Miller says he is glad to be an engineer with a liberal arts background. He remembers hearing from then-President J. Lawrence Burkholder that his education at Goshen College would “give you something to think about for the rest of your life.”